Transcript Patent information - promoting innovation through co-operation Richard Flammer Principal Director, Patent Information and European Co-operation 17 September 2010

Patent information - promoting
innovation through co-operation
Richard Flammer
Principal Director, Patent Information and European
Co-operation
17 September 2010
Main messages today
1. Patent information is fundamental to the
patent system
2. Patents and patent information are all about
stimulating innovation
3. Patents offices must use all means at their
disposal to ensure effective use of patent
information
4. Disclosure is a basic feature of the patent
system and increasingly in the spotlight.
Patent information - fundamental to the system
Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial
Property, Article 12(1):
"Each country of the Union undertakes to establish a special
industrial property service and a central office for the
communication to the public of patents, utility models,
industrial designs, and trademarks."
Etymology of the word "patent"1
"Anglo-Norman and Middle French patent (c1260 in Anglo-
Norman; 1330-2 in Middle French) and its etymon classical
Latin patent-, pat[e]ns open, lying open, unobstructed, wide,
broad, readily accessible, clear, obvious, use as adjective of
present participle of pat[e]re to be open"
1. Source: Oxford English Dictionary online (www.oed.com)
Patent information - fundamental to the system
Conclusion:
• the foundation of today's patent law (Paris Convention)
AND
• the meaning of the word "patent" itself
... are all about getting information on new inventions into
the public domain
Patents stimulating innovation?
Article I, Section 8, Clause 8 of the United States
Constitution, empowers the United States Congress:
“to promote the Progress of Science and useful
Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and
Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective
Writings and Discoveries.”
("Promote the progress of science ..."
=
"Stimulate innovation ...")
Patents stimulating innovation?
How can patents stimulate innovation?
 by allowing companies to monitor competitors'
activities?
 by providing the information for deciding freedom to
act?
 by providing the information for deciding patentability?
• by providing inspiration for technologists to innovate?
Patents stimulating innovation?
Patents, at their best, can help industry




understand what already exists
and build on it;
reduce the duplication of others' R&D work
and avoid infringement of others' rights.
EPO - the guardian of worldwide patent information?
A long tradition:
• 1910 Netherlands Patent Act (strict patentability criteria, pre-exam.
search  need for good documentation)
• 1947 IIB founded in The Hague (members: FR, BE, NL and LU) to
establish a central pre-examination search (centralised
documentation necessary)
• 1978 EPO integrates IIB and takes over the documentation
collection
• 1990s EPO converts entire collection to electronic format (today,
more than 60 million documents)
• 1991 EPO integrates INPADOC and takes over the Patent Family
and Legal Status databases
• 1998 esp@cenet launched
EPO - the guardian of worldwide patent information?
• European system is based on quality, which starts with
a good search  need for good databases
• Inherited excellent documentation from IIB
• Committed to continuing the work started by
INPADOC  Patent family / legal status data
Conclusion
The EPO is naturally the world's leading repository of
patent data.
EPO Patent Information Policy
Offering EPO data to the public
• cost to EPO is low (it has the data anyway)
• patent information reaches many people
• places patent information where it can stimulate
innovation
EPO Patent Information Policy
Three categories of patent information
• EPO's own data (EP patent documents, Register, etc)
• data collected for EPO searches (worldwide prior art
documentation)
• data collected for public ("INPADOC", bibliographic,
family, legal status)
EPO Patent Information Policy
Co-operation the key to success?
For collecting data:
• worldwide co-operation (currently 81 countries' data in
the EPO databases!)
For disseminating patent information
• 38 member states with:
– local knowledge
– local language skills
– geographical proximity to industry
EPO Patent Information Policy
Creating the framework for achieving the best results
•
•
•
•
marginal cost pricing policy for data and search tools
focus on co-operation across the member states
PATLIB network (> 300 members)
a strategy for helping PATLIBs to be effective (pilot
project, national action plans, IP pre-diagnosis)
IP pre-diagnosis - Pilot (2008-2010)
• Participating member states (13)
– AT, BE, BG, CZ, FI, HU, IT, LT, MT, RO, SK, SI, TR
• Model
A service created by INPI France
• Scope
Introduce and enhance the understanding of industrial
property in SMEs by using national offices' IP expertise
IP pre-diagnosis - Pilot (2008-2010)
IP pre-diagnosis service - the provision of:
• an objective and qualified analysis of the state and
development prospects of the SME regarding its IP
needs
• an understanding of the competitive advantages
which can be created by IP
• a clear picture of all the IP players and costs
involved
• a clear identification of available skills
• recommendations and courses for action
Pilot project to reorient patent information centres
(2010-2013)
• Participating member states
CZ, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, IT, LV, PL, RO, SK, TR
• Objective:
– Enable PATLIB centres to offer patent related
innovation support centres mainly in the pre-filing
and commercialisation phase of inventions
– Sustainability of the services
Pilot project to reorient patent information centres
(2010-2013)
• Implementation procedure:
– pilot project with a limited number of centres to
test the concept
– inclusion in the national action plans
– after successful completion -> larger scale
implementation possibly supported by the
European Commission
Pilot project to reorient patent information centres
Project components:
• Tools for
– supporting searchers (eg shared browsing)
– analysing and visualising search results
– developing patent strategies and managing a patent
portfolio
– evaluating the economic potential of inventions
• Modular training programme and e-learning tools
• Coaching by staff from centres that already offer
sophisticated innovation support services
Understanding patent documents - machine translation
• Europe a multi-lingual culture
• Using patent information well means consulting
documents in several languages
• EPO committed to helping users access and understand
all documents
• Hence the EPO machine translation programme
EPO Machine Translation (MT) programme:
a support to local innovation
• EPO European Machine Translation Programme
launched in 2004
• Objective: provide an automated translation service
of a sufficient quality to make the technical content of
a patent document understandable to a technically
qualified person
• Technical approach used: rule-based engine,
hierarchical technical dictionaries built with IPCbased patent terminology
EPO Machine Translation (MT) programme:
a support to local innovation
• Languages available today (automatic translation
from/into English): German, Spanish, Italian, French
- implemented in 2008 and 2009 - Portuguese foreseen in Q4 2010
• EPO MT services are available:
– to the public via esp@cenet (abstract,
descriptions and claims) http://ep.espacenet.com
– to the EPO examiners via SEA Viewer from
Epoque
The future of MT at the EPO:
European language technology services for patents
• A new programme to enhance the EPO MT services
• Start: end 2011 (Administrative Council approval
pending)
• Duration: 4 years
• Scope: delivery of language technology services for
patents from and into English (later French and German)
for all languages of the EPC contracting states
Result display - esp@cenet
And translate it
http://ep.espacenet.com/
View the full text of
the patent document
Geographical origin of esp@cenet users who use
the machine-translation feature
The future of MT at the EPO:
European language technology services for patents
• Objectives: support the dissemination of patent
information, also in relation to EU patent; support the
patent examination procedure
• High translation quality has priority (independent from
technical solution)
Understanding patent documents a remaining challenge
We already have:
• a worldwide (and growing) data pool
• technology to access it
• machine-translation to understand it
• a network to reach those who need it
But ...
Understanding patent documents a remaining challenge
Are patents really suitable as documents for stimulating
innovation?
• do they allow companies to monitor competitors'
activities? - YES
• do they provide the information for deciding freedom to
act? - YES
• do they provide the information for deciding
patentability? - YES
• do they provide inspiration for technologists to innovate?
- PROBABLY NOT
Understanding patent documents a remaining challenge
• Only 1.5% of US patents are ever cited in scientific
literature (Source: Fromer1)
• "pervasive use of ambiguous or opaque language" Seymore2
• "an incentive to obfuscate information" - Fromer
• "current regulations do not systematically generate good
titles" - Fromer
1. Jeanne C. Fromer, Patent Disclosure, Iowa Law Review, Vol. 94, p. 539, 2009 Fordham Law Legal
Studies Research Paper No. 1116020
2. Sean B. Seymore, The Teaching Function of Patents, Notre Dame Law Review, Vol. 85, No. 2, pp.
621-669, 2010, Washington & Lee Legal Studies Paper No. 2009-03
Understanding patent documents a remaining challenge
Dual function of a patent document
• a legal instrument
• a description of a new piece of technology
On-stage debate on the quality of patent documents and
how they describe new technology
EPO Patent Information Conference (co-organised by EPO and
Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property)
19-21 October 2010, Lausanne
www.epo.org/pi-conference
Thank you
Richard Flammer
Principal Director Patent Information
and European Co-operation
[email protected]
General enquiries
[email protected]
www.epo.org